Enclothed Cognition

As a company originally founded by a female clinician, for female clinicians, it's only natural that a majority of our customers and colleagues are women. As dedicated fans of Medelita, customers often want to continue wearing our garments through their pregnancies, and so we get a lot of requests for maternity scrubs. While we wish wholeheartedly that we could develop a full maternity line, unfortunately being in the early stages of growth as a new company, it isn’t feasible to introduce a new line without a certain level of consumer demand and anticipated volume of sales. However, all is not lost for our loyal and pregnant customers. Medelita founder, Lara Manchik Francisco, PA-C, learned a great deal about comfort during her pregnancy - not very long ago - and offers some insight. "Most clinicians settle for unisex scrubs a few sizes too big and then tie the drawstring over the top of their belly. But it's awkward and can make you feel very self-conscious," said Lara, "At a time when comfort is paramount, it's unfathomable to be in unisex scrubs that are more unattractive than ever before – a tough thing to accomplish." Much to her surprise, Lara found that she was able to wear her Medelita scrubs through month eight of her pregnancy. In addition to designs that naturally accommodate the female figure, our scrubs feature a wide athletic waistband, akin to a pair of lululemon® pants. By wearing incrementally bigger sizes throughout her pregnancy, Lara explained that she was never uncomfortable. By the 8th month, she'd gone up about 2 sizes in both the scrub top and scrub pant. But it wasn't until the 9th month that she stopped feeling comfortable, although she readily admits that really nothing felt ‘comfortable’ in that final month when everything 'popped and dropped'. In addition, Lara found the functionality of Medelita scrubs extremely helpful. As her internal temperatures fluctuated, the moisture-wicking drirelease® fabric kept her dry, fresh, and free of odors. "I was so grateful for that," she said with a chuckle, "It's the little things like that when you're pregnant that make you happy." Sanita® clogs were another of those little things that made all the difference. For our customers, who often spend so much time on their feet even through their pregnancy, a shoe with good arch support and a comfortable fit is essential. According to Lara, "Going up one size was enough for my entire pregnancy. In the last two months, I wore the Sanita clogs every single day. Even to the birthing center, I wore my clogs." If you don't want to pay full price for scrubs that you may only wear for a few months, try our Web Specials. Our Certified Seconds are especially reasonable, as garments with slight fabric or sewing imperfections. These are garments that didn’t meet our own extremely high standards of perfection, but are still garments that could be worn proudly - and are perfect as an option for buying larger sizes to be worn as maternity scrubs.

FasterCures, the Washington-based center of the Milken Institute, conducted the fourth annual Partnering for Cures meeting Nov. 28-30, 2012 in New York to advance the goal of bringing effective therapies to patients faster. Part of the meeting included an idea hatched by Mike Milken himself: “So many of these amazing doctors are musicians,” he told Musical Director Glen Roven, “I want you to put together a band of doctors.” Thus a live concert by the “Rock Docs” became a part of the meeting. Musical Director Glen Roven chose Medelita Lab Coats to outfit the 15 piece band of National Institute of Health leadership. This photo includes Rock Docs: Sally J Rockey, PhD – Director of Office of Extramural Research, NIH ; Dr. Francis S. Collins, NIH Director; Alan S. Wayne, MD - Head, Hematologic Diseases Section at National Cancer Institute; and John T. Burklow, Director, Office of Communications and Public Liaison, NIH.

A few months ago Ingrid A. Carlson, MD of Mountain View Family Eye Care in Colorado Springs, CO, contacted Medelita to order scrubs to take on her Pediatric Ophthalmology Medical Mission to Grenada. We were immediately inspired by Dr. Carlson’s story, which is outlined below: “Last year while on vacation in the Caribbean I noticed a newspaper photo of Santa Claus with a child on his knee. The child was about 18 months and severely cross-eyed. The picture was supposed to look “cute”, but I knew functional blindness from amblyopia was possible. Out of simple curiosity I said to the receptionist at the hotel, “Oh, back in the states I do that kind of surgery to straighten children’s eyes. Who would this child see here?” She answered, “No one.” Again, I said, “Oh, you mean no one on this island, but surely if he went to a larger island he could see a doctor there.” She replied, “Maybe if his parents are rich they will fly him to Miami, but we have no one in the Caribbean.” Stunned, I returned home and researched this. Sure enough, I could identify no Caribbean pediatric eye surgeon. How could I let the people of these islands I loved, wait on me, clean my room, maintain my hotel grounds, drive me from place to place, and I do nothing in return? So...I sent a few letters out to some of the medical facilities in the Caribbean. Saint George’s University on Grenada responded and invited me to come. I am told we will be the first pediatric eye surgeons on this island in over ten years.” We were so thrilled to be able to contribute what we could for the Mission, and we sent Dr. Carlson a scrub top embroidered with her Mission’s logo. Recently she returned from the trip reporting that her team saw over one hundred children in clinic, and were able to perform “life-changing surgery” on many. She sent us the stories of a couple of her patients in Grenada with pictures included, which we have scanned and posted below (click to enlarge). Medelita would like to congratulate Dr. Carlson and her team for their incredible work improving the lives of those who might otherwise never have this opportunity. Keep up the good work! If you or your group is involved in volunteer work, please tell us about it and we’ll post your story here.

We are proud to offer professional women’s lab coats to AWS members.  Our new member benefit provides a discount on all Medelita products, Sanita clogs and doctor bags. This is a new relationship and we're confident that the synergies are very strong.

A few months ago Keila Valdz Mower, a Girl Scout leader in Utah, wrote a compelling email to Medelita requesting a donation of lab coats to support a STEM Education program. Medelita enthusiastically said YES!

At Medelita, we have always recommended that you purchase more than one lab coat at a time. I'll admit that it's easy for us to make such recommendations; we are in business to sell you as many lab coats as we can,  and I won't pretend otherwise. 

Pediatrician from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital-Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children recognized nationally as leader, advocate Philadelphia, Penn. & San Clemente, Cal. –April 30, 2014

Company founder, Lara Francisco, PA-C has been hard at work developing new concepts for more functional fabrics in our lab coats and scrubs. One frequent request that we get is to develop lab coats that offer the most comfort in higher temperatures without degrading the shape of the garment.

When I was young I can remember running science experiments on random household items (much to my mother's dismay), determining which of my action figures would fit into the vacuum cleaner, what sound did light bulbs make when compressed in a trash compactor,  or what happened when you took a Hypercolor t-shirt in the microwave (note: it turned pink).  

Let's be honest - Father's Day is a bit of an anomaly, even to those that celebrate it(not surprisingly, many countries have formally chosen to recognize it).  In the U.S., a typical Mother's Day celebration might include a brunch with the family, complete with some flowers and maybe a nice gesture or two (think something chocolate).